He said: “We are never going to be paying the biggest money because of the resources available to us. But we are going to still try and sign the best players, and make sure we try and get value for money.

“I want to do something really nice at Gillingham, send them on a journey and come back with my family and grandkids in 10-15 years and be welcomed in, not be the man who put them in financial trouble. I have a responsibility to our chairman.

“I have walked away from no end of deals. We don’t want a Bury, this football club has been there before. That is certainly something I don’t want to be part of.”

The Gills made a cash bid for a higher-league striker before the season began but that deal is now dead.

Steve Evans is looking for value for money in the transfer marketPicture: Ady Kerry